The present invention concerns a pharmacy formulation preparation system and a pharmacy formulation preparation method for preparing individual pharmaceutical formulations.
At the present time, individual pharmaceutical formulations are often prepared manually by pharmacists. As a result, the preparation of such individual formulations is often defective and tedious and there is often a delay in identifying missing materials that are required for preparing such individual formulations. In addition, the actually prepared individual formulation often differs from the specified formulation.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a more efficient system and method for preparing individual pharmaceutical formulations such as formulations for ointments, semisolid preparations, eye drops, lotions, pills, capsules or teas in quantities of up to 5 kg, which allow for avoiding to a great extent delays and mistakes during the preparation.
The pharmacy sector in Germany and other European countries is very heterogeneous; in Germany, for example, a person is only allowed to direct a maximum of 3 pharmacies. For this reason, the preparation of individual formulations is usually performed manually using the pharmacist's expert knowledge, which might differ from pharmacist to pharmacist and from pharmacy to pharmacy. In addition to that, the pharmacist often consults reference books at their disposal.
According to a finding underlying the invention, the demand for an improved and standardized system has so far not been determined because each pharmacy has so far mixed individual formulations according to their own system. The inventors of the subject matter of the present patent application have determined this need and the present invention provides a significant improvement.